Zooey Deschanel:You
may know this actress (she's pictured in the screenshot above) and musician as the quirky title
character of “New Girl” on Fox. Her surname comes from her
French paternal grandfather; she also has Swiss, Dutch,
English and Irish roots.

Chris O'Donnell: As his parents’ surnames—O'Donnell and
Rohs von Brecht—would suggest, this “NCIS: Los Angeles” actor
(he also was on the big screen as Robin to batmen Val Kilmer and
George Clooney) has Irish and German ancestry.

Christina Applegate:This
“Married … with Children,”and “Samantha Who?” actress was born into the business:
Her parents are record company executive Robert W. Applegate
and singer and actress Nancy Lee Priddy

Jim Parsons: The episode featuring this "Big Bang Theory" star (trademark line: "Bazinga!") is
the one I'm most anticipating. BBT is a favorite in our house, and I'd love to see what Parsons is like when he steps out of the role of Sheldon Cooper. The Houston native
reportedly has English, Scottish, French and German heritage.

Cindy Crawford: German, English and French make up the
bulk of this supermodel’s ancestry. She was “discovered” by a
newspaper photographer as she detasseled corn in her DeKalb,
Ill., hometown. Her appearance
at the Connecticut State Library in May clued us in that
she was filming for WDYTYA?

Trisha Yearwood: This country singer does it all: She's
also an actress, cookbook author and host of her own cooking
show on the Food Network. She was born in Monticello, Ga.

Chelsea Handler:A comedian, actress and talk show host
from Livingston, NJ, Handler has a German Mormon mother and a
Jewish father.

Among other resources, she'll introduce you to the Pennsylvania
Archives—and by that I mean both the Pennsylvania State Archives and
the Pennsylvania Archives series. The latter is 138-volumes of
published records including early government correspondence; tax
lists; and church, land, and military records, and it's free
on Fold3.com.

Participants in the Secrets to Beat Your Pennsylvania Brick Walls
webinar also receive:

a quick Pennsylvania vital records review

strategies for exploring military records for your
Pennsylvania ancestors

tips for researching in court and tax records

information on other state-specific resources that can help
you break through research brick walls

the opportunity to submit Pennsylvania genealogy questions
before the event (via a form when you register for the webinar)
and again during the webinar's live Q&A session

With the beginning of July (can you believe that's already next
week?) arrives the 150th anniversary of the bloodiest battle of the Civil
War, the Battle of Gettysburg.

It lasted from July 1-3 and involved 160,000 soldiers on both sides,
with casualty estimates (also for both sides) ranging from 46,000 to
51,000. Civilians hid in their homes as the fighting happened around
them.

Although the Battle of Gettysburg is considered a turning point in the war—it put Gen. Robert E. Lee was on the defensive—the Civil War dragged on for nearly two more years.

The astounding numbers of dead at Gettysburg led to the
establishment of the Soldiers National Cemetery there. At the
cemetery's dedication on Nov. 19, 1863, President Lincoln eloquently
spoke the 10 sentences we know as the
Gettysburg Address.

Visit the Gettysburg
Foundation website to view photos of the Gettysburg
Battlefield and the Gettysburg Cyclorama—French artist Paul
Philippoteaux's 360-degree, life-size "painting in the round" by
that depicts Pickett's Charge.

The Nationwide Gravesite Locator lets you search for burials of veterans and their family members at Gettysburg National Military Park (choose Gettysburg from the Cemetery dropdown menu and then enter at least a last name).

In related news, on Sunday, June 30, FamilySearch will shut
off the ability for vendors (such as software companies) to
"write" to trees on new.familysearch.org,
which is actually the old version of FamilySearch Family Trees.
That means that if you're using a third-party product that works
with the new.familysearch.org system, you won't be able to use
it to update your new.familysearch.org tree. Read
more about this on Renee Zamora's blog.

It's part of the site's Ashes to Archives initiative, which marks
the anniversary of the Four Courts
Fire in Dublin. This June 30, 1922, fire during the Irish
Civil War severely damaged the Public Records Office, resulting in a
major loss of historical records. It's one of the most infamous
events in Irish genealogy.

Findmypast.ie's
helpful site tells you what records were lost and what
survived (including sources available with a findmypast.ie
subscription or pay-per-view credits).

You'll need a free membership on the site to view the Irish vital
records.

Got Irish ancestors? Take a look at these resources from
ShopFamilyTree.com:

Happy Juneteenth—the holiday that commemorates the announcement of
the abolition of slavery in Texas on June 19, 1865. On that
day, Union Gen. Gordon Granger stood on a balcony in Galveston and
read General
Order No. 3, informing the people of Texas that slaves there
were freed.

From the beginning, Texas freedmen marked Emancipation Day—now known
as Juneteenth—with festivals and remembrances of enslaved ancestors.
Observances declined during the early 20th century, but have seen a
resurgence since the Civil Rights movement. Juneteenth became an
official state holiday in Texas in 1980; 41 other states and
Washington DC have designated it a holiday or a day of observance.

Learning about African-American roots during slavery is difficult
but it isn't always impossible. These free online articles will get
you started:

The folks at Flip-Pal mobile scanner are presenting a free webinar,
Metdata and Digital Images, on Tuesday, June 18 at 7:30 Central Time
(that's 8:30 Eastern, 6:30 Mountain and 5:30 Pacific).
Presenter Thomas MacEntee will show you how to use a digital photo's
metadata (the information embedded in digital files) to add captions
and details such as who's in a photo and when it was taken. See
more details about the webinar and click to register here.

Friday through Sunday marks the Southern California Genealogical
Society Jamboree, one of the most-anticipated conferences of the
year. Remember to register for sessions you want to watch from home
via free JamboSTREAM webcast. See
the schedule on the Jamboree blog.

Findmypast.com has added
2.5 million court records to its collection of Irish Petty Sessions
Court Registers (1828-1912), which has information on petty crimes
(such as public drunkeness and allowing livestock to wander) and
punishments of Ireland's residents. They're available with a World
Subscription or pay-per-view credits on findmypast.com international
sites.

The National Archives is poised to launch the Founders Online
website with thousands of transcribed and annotated documents from
George Washington, James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams,
Benjamin Franklin and Alexander Hamilton.

Eventually, 175,000 letters, diary entries, publications and other
documents will be on Founders Online. Their source is 242 printed
volumes that collect the papers of each man from the National
Archives, Library of Congress and other archives around the world.
The volumes also include editorial essays that introduce the
materials and add historical context.

One of my research goals is to visualize my family history on a map
showing all the places my ancestors lived and worked.

I found plenty of advice in last month's Family Tree University
One-Week Workshop, Map Your Family History With Google Earth.
Participants studied course materials and created a family history
map project with guidance from Google Earth
expert Lisa Louise Cooke.

Here are a few tips from Lisa for using Google Earth
and finding old maps of places your family lived:

A great source of old maps to use with Google Earth is the David Rumsey Historical Map
Collection. Sign up for a free account for access to the
highest resolution downloadable maps (You can still download up
to about medium resolution if you aren't signed in).

Instead of
using the "Search the Site" box, scroll
down on the home page and use the Map Rank Search tool to search
by year and location.

Lisa recommends using Google to find online plat maps (these
show property boundaries and owners' names), which might be
anywhere from large mapping web sites to a
genealogist's own site. Try doing a Google Image search
with keywords such as Indiana "Randolph County" "Plat map."

Another strategy to find plat maps is to run a Google Books search
on a county, state and the term "plat map." If the book you want
isn't fully digitized, copy the title and search for it at WorldCat to find libraries
that have that book.

You can have Google email you when Google Maps or Google Earth
map images are updated, or Street View becomes available, for
the areas where your ancestors lived. Go to Follow Your World,
log in with your Google account, and follow the prompts.

Google Earth doesn't auto save, so if it crashes on you,
you'll lose your work. Every so often, go up to the menu and
select File>Save My Places to save everything in My Places.